First sod turned for new medical school at Waikato University

Friday, 5 December 2025

Waikato University’s new medical school is a step closer to reality, with Prime Minister Christopher Luxon visiting campus on Friday to help launch construction.

A sod-turning ceremony was held on the site of the new medical school building, due for completion by December 2027.

“I think this is an incredibly significant step for the University of Waikato, and a proud and exciting moment for all of those who so long have championed the idea of a Waikato medical school,” Luxon said.

The project had faced political and other opponents, he said, congratulating those who had pushed to make it a reality despite this.

Also in attendance were Health Minister Simeon Brown, Universities Minister Shane Reti and representatives from Waikato-Tainui.

The country’s third medical school was much needed, Luxon said.

“I think the message is very simple — this is a country that has one medical school for every 2.6 million people.

“Australia has one medical school for every 1.2 million people.”

The new medical school would open up places for 120 students from 2028.

The four-storey teaching and learning building was where medical students would spend their first year of the four-year programme, studying biomedical sciences and the social factors that influence health.

University of Waikato Vice-Chancellor Professor Neil Quigley, said he was pleased to have taken another step towards the opening of New Zealand’s first graduate-entry medical school.

“We’re committed to delivering a medical school that will attract more people who want to train to be doctors in primary and community care.”

“Our graduate-entry programme will provide a new model of selecting and training doctors for New Zealand, and we’re pleased to have the Government’s support.”

It would be a “digital first” school, able to deliver advanced digitally based medical education in each of the regional areas where students would be based.

He also praised the tenacity of those who fought to get Waikato University a medical school, which many had thought a losing battle.

Waikato-Tainui chair Tukoroirangi Morgan welcomed those who had visited from outside the city, and thanked the national party for backing the “crucial” facility.

The medical school provided confidence that Waikato could train GPs to fill community clinics, he said.

He also had a pointed message for the health minister.

“Today I salute the courage and the commitment of the national party, and at the same time, I also want to say to Simeon that while you are continuing to remove treaty clauses from legislation, we are in this region committed to building back prosperity and to trying to build a new kind of dynamic.”

Chancellor Susan Hassall said there was an enthusiastic cohort of students who would be keen to apply.

“The excitement of the possibility of completing an initial degree and then moving on to medicine has captured the hearts and minds of our young people of today, and they have watched, and I have seen them watch, with a degree of very real impatience for it to become a reality.”

Some areas of the Waikato region had only one GP, and other areas had none, she said.

“Pressure on our rural communities is intolerable, and this will make such a very real difference.”

Brown said training an additional 120 doctors per year would transform the country’s ability to grow its own workforce and staff regional areas.

As health minister, it was an “incredibly easy” decision to back the new medical school.

“If we had the same number as Australia, we would be opening our fifth today and be talking about opening our sixth.”

He acknowledged the work done by others, especially Reti, who as former health minister had championed the project during the last election.

Reti said the project was the kind of progressive initiative he wanted to see in tertiary education.

The new medical school would provide a significant boost to tertiary education, and create opportunities for the local workforce.

“Together these developments contribute to the economic growth of Hamilton, the wider Waikato, and its communities.”